kirst

JAG is the kind of show you need to take with a grain of salt. The emphasis is much more on entertainment then on accuracy or believability. They were throwing out some really wild stories. At its best it's good entertainment but it does resort to bad comedy or even soap opera style every now and then. My younger me liked the show a lot when it aired but having seen it now in its entirety I must say that espcially the later parts are not that good. I would say out of all episodes there were maybe five that were really gripping. One thing that is mind blowing is the staggering amount of continuity errors in the action footage. They just took whatever shot they needed or wanted and cobled them together not even caring that at times it wasn't even of the same modell of plane. But, like the producers, it doesn't seem to have bothered the audience. Still, I found it irritating.
David James Elliot was perfect for this role. He had something of a Tom Cruise / Maverick vibe yet a more adult version. When it comes to the female protagonist it went from great to worst. I loved Andrea Parker, still liked Meg Austin but never liked Catherine Bell. And that is true for the respective characters as well.
The longevity of the show has its pros and cons. They were able to build up good charcter arcs but the longer it went the more it felt they didn't know what to do with them any more. And that starts and stops with our main characters.
It was fairly obvious what would happen in the end and the fact they danced arround that part for basically nine seasons made it frustratingly tiresome. You can only do so much back and forth before it becomes a nuisance. Plus, they never really had great chemistry. It never felt natural. So by that account I wasn't really thrilled with the end or the final two seasons alltogether.
I wouldn't say the show as a whole is a waste of time but at a count of 227 episodes you need what the Germans call "Sitzfleisch". There is no translation for this but it means to have the stamina to see something through to the end.

“There’s more to life than making shallow, fairly obvious observations.” "Seinfeld" makes a pretty convincing argument that that's all you need. Easily one of the most well written sitcoms ever released. Seinfeld is truly a show about nothing. It brings to life Jerry Seinfeld's and Larry David's unbelievable (and somewhat useless) powers of observation. "Seinfeld" follows 4 quirky and eccentric friends living in Manhattan as they get themselves and others into a whole mess of trouble. Jerry is a stand up comic dating his way through New York City. Elaine works at a publishing company as she looks for Mr. Right. George is the literal reincarnation of Larry David with a plethora of neurosis and his insane, but genius ideas. Kramer is Jerry's overly intrusive neighbor. He can only be described as Kramer. There will never be another.

The jokes are perfectly layered and everything builds on what happened earlier in the episode. It's incredible that they were able to come up with so many per season. Despite the 9 seasons, the show is strong all the way through. Larry David left the show after season 7. The pressures of coming up with comedy gold got to him. Jerry did an admirable job of continuing without him. The transition was seamless and nearly unnoticeable. Some say that George lost a bit of depth, but I'd be hard pressed to see it.

The one negative that sticks in everyone's mind, is the ending. It's a heard scratcher. Left a lot of people confused. That being said, the ending was never particularly relevant to a show like this. No one came for the ending. Enjoy the ride.

“I’m out there, Jerry. And I’m loving every minute of it!”

10/10

I'm very torn over the original Star Trek series. I'm too young for it; I grew up in the 1980s with the original cast films - which I loved and still do - but my real adoration for Trek began with The Next Generation and then especially Deep Space Nine. The original Star Trek is a very different show from any of that, and I have to look at it with a different mindset to try and appreciate it. I don't have any nostalgia colouring my view.

To put it bluntly, it's horribly dated and oftentimes difficult to watch or enjoy. It's campy and looks very cheap. BUT, it's saving grace is how good the actors, writing and characters are. They brought the show to life, and at points made it a complete joy. For the time it was made it did incredible things with progressive storytelling and strong special effects.

I'm never going to love the original series, or even really get it. It's not my Star Trek, but it has its place in history and that can't be denied. I feel it got it chance to shine when it moved into the film format (conversely, TNG and the rest of the franchise worked far better on TV than as films).